There is no documentary evidence to suggest that the Germans knew about the design and construction of the British Medium Mark A ‘Whippet’ light tank in 1917. Work started on designing a Leichter Kampfwagen, a light tank.ĭid the Germans copy the British Whippet? German designers realized they needed a more agile light tank to perform a cavalry role. They also built twenty Sturmpanzerwagen A7V break-through tanks. The Germans started a process of recovering as many Mk.IV tanks as possible, rearming them with German guns and using them against their previous owners. The advances made at Cambrai with the fully armored Mk.IV tank changed their appraisal of the usefulness of the tank. The Germans conducted firing trials on this tank and concluded that it was not a serious threat, because the armor could be penetrated by machine-gun fire, artillery, and direct fire from anti-aircraft and field guns. Nevertheless, instructions were given for them to be transported to the battlefield and used in combat. The British Mk.II tank had been built as a training vehicle with a soft-metal armor plate. The German delays in developing their own tanks were due to a report following the examination of a knocked out Mk.II tank in 1917.
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